


Abby, Kate & Ziva

by briwd



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-24
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 15:49:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1232182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briwd/pseuds/briwd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the Rizzoli, Isles & Todd AU, and written for NFA's All Girls Together challenge. How did Ziva David's relationship with Kate Todd and Abby Sciuto evolve from uncertain and mistrust to full friendship?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's note** : set in the Rizzoli, Isles & Todd universe, which currently consists of Rizzoli, Isles & Kate and rizzles & kibbs.

**Chapter 1**

Scuttlebutt traveled just as quickly through the Navy Yard as anywhere else, and Abby Sciuto was firmly embedded in the grapevine. She wasn't mean-spirited, but she did enjoy hearing - and sharing - good, juicy gossip...and she used it to keep tabs on, and help, her second family at NCIS.

Today, scuttlebutt was dominated by the new director and one of her first official directives.

Abby knew all about Jenny Shepard, and her drive to make her mark. In two weeks, Jenny had visited Abby's lab twice, frowned at the gothic motif of the lab, suggested Abby would look really good in pastel (!) and said more than once there was room in the budget for up to three forensics assistants.

Abby didn't want to change the decor of her lab, she certainly didn't want to change her outfits, and she darned well preferred to work alone.

All of that irked Abby.

What made her mad was the new director's insistence that a new member be added to Gibbs' team.

Not Kate's sister, Julie, nor someone else from Julie's team in L.A. Not Stan Burley. Not somebody from a random NCIS field office. Not even Vivian Blackadder.

No.

Jenny made Gibbs hire Ziva David, the sister of the man who tried to kill Abby's team. Abby's family.

And Abby didn't like it one bit.

Kate Todd, after learning of the director's decision, knew she shouldn't judge, she should give people the benefit of the doubt, and she should be grateful to the young woman who saved her own life, along with those of several other people.

If Ziva David had stayed with Mossad, or gone to work for another federal agency, Kate wouldn't have had any problem with her.

When Jenny announced to the team that Ziva was their newest teammate, Kate couldn't hear the accolades and gushing recommendations Jenny gave the Mossad officer.

Kate only saw the face of Ari Haswari and heard only his voice.

Kate asked Gibbs what Jenny was up to, if she had lost her mind, why she would do this to their team. Gibbs was grateful for Ziva's assistance and sacrifice - she helped the feds track her dearly loved brother, and killed him herself - and Kate could tell how torn he was over the situation. He owed Ziva a great debt of some kind, yet felt she belonged somewhere else and felt almost helpless in how it affected the rest of his team.

Tony drooled over Ziva's beauty, but Kate could tell he wasn't certain about Ziva being permanently assigned to the team. Kate thought McGee was being too polite, and knew Abby wasn't at all happy over the situation.

Ducky seemed to be the most accepting - almost as much as her priest would be.

"It was a Protestant, not a Catholic, who asked the question 'What Would Jesus Do?'", her current priest once told her. "It's a great question, and a great way to look at a given situation."

 _Jesus,_  Kate decided,  _would fully embrace Ziva and treat her like part of the family._

_Well, that's better said than done, when I still have nightmares about her brother pulling the trigger and sending me into black nothingness._

Ziva understood her new team was going to have problems fully accepting her as one of their own.

Her understanding of the situation didn't make it less difficult to endure.

In another life, Ziva might be graduating from university, or beginning a career as a ballerina, or starting a family.

But she is not living another life. She is living her own life, her reality, with a group of Americans who appreciate her sacrifice in so far as it saved two of their own.

 _They do not know my life, why I decided to leave Mossad and come here,_ she thought.  _They'll never understand what I truly gave up, how it tore me apart to take Ari's life, nor know the kind of man he once was and perhaps still was deep inside the sociopath that consumed him._

_Only Jenny and Gibbs understand why I had to walk away and take this...leap of faith._

Ziva was certain only of a few things: the director's trust and faith in her and their friendship; her disgust with her father - who she holds responsible for the madness that these agents lived through; and her desire to start over and get away from Israel and Mossad.

She's much less sure of her new boss, Gibbs, who she dared to think might eventually become a second father. At present, Gibbs is a man she feels some kinship with, and senses his uncertainty over her long-term status on his team.

Ziva is more uncertain about her new teammates:  _is DiNozzo really drooling over me or trying to figure me out? Does McGee really welcome me as part of the team? Is Ducky merely being polite and keeping his own suspicions to himself?_

_And do Caitlin and Abby tolerate - or despise - me?_

Over the next several weeks, Team Gibbs got back to its normal routine of investigating cases.

Ziva found that McGee and Ducky's overtures of welcome were genuine. Each time Gibbs got on her case, she fell back on their conversation in the elevator, where he told her he absolutely trusted her, and wanted her there, and had to be hard on her to the rest of the team.

Ziva struggled to win over Abby as a friend. Kate was an absolute pro on the job, and polite, and not at all interested in doing 'girl' things with Ziva like she apparently was with Abby.

Things went smoothly enough until the first major blowup.

**Abby**

_Carol,_

_...I finally got to work with Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian Museum! She's this awesome, rock-star forensic anthropologist I was telling you about-hey! You know who she is, too! What am I talking about? :)_

_Oh yeah, Bones! That's what everyone calls her, or that's what she let me call her. Her team calls her Dr. Brennan. Anyway. We got this case involving a dead female Marine recruit, she went AWOL and they found her in Rock Creek Park, half buried. Gibbs made McGee and Tony dig her up - and when they did, they found a skeleton - and get this: Bones' team happened to be working nearby._

_Long story short: the skeleton Tony and McGee recovered was the wife of a Marine major, and the Marine major was uncovered by Bones and an FBI agent. No, not Fornell ;) His name is Seeley Booth, and he's cute! :D and Tony worked with him during that Ari mess last year._

_Gibbs was grumpy, but Fornell talked him into a joint case with Bones's team. So we're working together, and I gotta tell you about Dr. Brennan's lab..._

_...something crazy happened the night before Gibbs and Booth caught the killer and I'm glad it was just our team there to see it._

_McGee and Tony came across a piece of evidence pointing to the killer and Gibbs told them to take it back to the lab - my lab. The guy was there, and apparently almost made McGee! I was so glad McGee made it out in time, and was telling him that and about to slap Tony for being Tony._

_While I was telling Tony how brave McGee was, Ziva and Kate got into an argument. At first we didn't think anything of it - as I said Tony - and I LOVE Tony, don't get me wrong but sometimes he's too hard on McGee - Tony was making jokes at McGee's expense. (To his credit, McGee rolls his eyes and isn't letting it get to him anymore, not that Tony's intentionally being mean, or too mean.)_

_Anyway...one second I'm talking Tony into apologizing, and the next second me and Tony and McGee are staring at Kate and Ziva, who are in the loudest, most intense argument I've ever seen either of them in._

_Tony made some crack about how long Ziva would take to kill Kate - and both of them stopped to glare at him. Ziva said something to him and I thought that was the end of it...then it started right back up._

_Ziva had the nerve to put down Kate and tell her she didn't know what in hell she was doing, that she (Ziva) was a Mossad officer and had more experience with guys like these in her first week than Kate had in her entire life. Kate called her lady a dozen times and said she knows when to hold back and wait for the right time to move in instead of mowing right in and killing people..then it got worse - somehow Ari got mentioned and Ziva got mad and started defending Ari, and Tony tried to butt in and before he could do so Kate and Ziva SLAPPED EACH OTHER, over and over and OVER. (Tony ran over and threw himself in the middle and caught a slap in the face from Ziva and the back of his head from Kate)_

_I could tell Tony was trying to talk Ziva and Kate down and...I saw that look in Ziva's eyes and I don't know if she was hurt over whatever was said about Ari, or if for a moment she might have snapped Kate's neck right then and there. I know they were both WAY mad at each other._

_Thank GOD Gibbs walked in at that moment._

_He grabbed them both, told me to finish processing the evidence, ordered Tony and McGee to follow a brand-new lead on the killer, and took Kate and Ziva with him. Tony says they were on the elevator for over an hour, and then Gibbs put Kate with Ducky and Ziva with Tony and went up to the director's office for another hour._

_Then - after he and Booth found the guy and arrested him, while Dr. Brennan and her assistants Angela and Jack were down in my lab - Tony said Gibbs pulled Kate and Ziva into the director's office and Jenny read Kate the riot act - then Gibbs went back in, said something to Jenny, and Jenny read ZIVA the riot act to make it even._

_The two times I've been up there since then? Tony's still cracking jokes with Ziva but is keeping an eye on her. McGee's being polite but not as social with Ziva as he was. And Kate and Ziva BARELY make eye contact._

_And Gibbs is being more cranky than usual - he left a cup of coffee for me this afternoon instead of my Caf-Pow! Imagine that!..._

_...I really wonder if this Ziva thing that the director forced on Gibbs is going to work out. I know she's not like her brother...but that look in her eye scared me._

**Kate**

_Rachel,_

_This week was as close as I've come to quitting this agency. Before you say anything, I know I shouldn't be writing this, but it isn't anything I haven't already told Gibbs or the director, and nothing that would compromise security._

_That case you saw in the news regarding the Jeffersonian and "the feds"? That was us - and the FBI agent who works with the Jeffersonian and Dr. Brennan._

_At first everything was going well. Abby was having a great time, being in the presence of one of her forensics heroines - and I'm pretty impressed by Dr. Brennan myself, and especially how well regarded and respected she is by her team and that FBI agent..._

_...everything was going well, until the night before we found the murderer._

_Tony and McGee told us that they found the killer unexpectedly. Actually, McGee nearly ran into him - they weren't supposed to engage, just observe. He narrowly got away before the guy saw him._

_That's what Ziva and I ended up arguing over, in Abby's lab._

_I suppose it was inevitable - although we both tried to remain professional, which we did._

_Until that afternoon._

_Long story short: she said McGee should have engaged him. I replied that he should have done exactly what he did - which is what Gibbs ordered them to do._

_She then proceeded to insult my professionalism - and I reminded her that I was in the Secret Service, protecting the President himself, and am a trained federal agent. SHE kept mentioning her Mossad credentials...and it disintegrated._

_When she mentioned Ari - I lost it. I yelled at her. She yelled back._

_Then she slapped me, hard, and I returned it in kind. I thought she might kill me, for a moment, though I know now she wouldn't have._

_Probably._

_Next thing I remember is Tony getting double-slapped by the both of us, and Gibbs rushing in and pulling us away._

_After that...Gibbs yelling at us both in the elevator, we defending ourselves to him and to the director, then the director telling me in no uncertain terms that if this ever happens again I will be suspended indefinitely and seeing Ziva, her golden child, suppressing a smile...Gibbs telling me to step out of the room, then overhearing the director say the same thing to her._

_Since then, we've gotten along just fine. I haven't said a word to her outside of work and she's done the same._

_Remember you telling me not to let Gibbs and Tony intimidate me a couple of years ago? Well...to their credits...Gibbs and Tony stuck up for me, in their own way. Made me feel good, especially after confronting the director's golden child put me in her crosshairs. And standing by me when Ziva apologized and I apologized to her. We shook hands, made up, and as far as the good director is concerned, all is well._

_Except it's not, but we're not killing one another. Just back to the way it was._

_So I'm not quitting._

_I might get FIRED first, but I'm not quitting. I've survived Tony, survived Gibbs, and I can survive this :)_

**Ziva**

_Schmiel,_

_I wanted to thank you for speaking with me on the phone and helping me think through things. I want to give you an update._

_I apologized to Caitlin, and she to me, and as far as Jenny is concerned, as she put it, "everything is good."_

_Except it is really not good._

_I am aware, every day I arrive to NCIS, how much the specter of my brother hangs over the team. How they see him, when they see me. How they feel when Jenny moves to help me, not meaning to coddle and protect me, although that is how they come to see it._

_I see how all of the team is learning to trust me, in their own ways. Ducky is the most trusting, Caitlin the least. Tony is the most social with me. McGee is kind, Palmer doesn't really say much. Abby is polite, and takes her lead from Caitlin, who up until the incident and afterwards has kept a professional distance._

_Gibbs is supportive, in his own way, but I know he has had conversations with the director on her perceived favoritism towards me._

_All of this in spite of the fact that I saved his and Caitlin's lives, by killing my only and beloved brother._

_They do not know Ari the way I knew him. Yes, he committed atrocities. Yes, he murdered women, in Israel and America, and had to pay for his crimes._

_Yes, it tore me apart. I do not support what he became. The mere fact that I do not know two of the women whose lives were disheveled over his actions, like Caitlin and Gibbs know them, does not make me dismissive of them or supportive of him. I do not understand fully how his actions upturned the lives of Caitlin and Gibbs and the others, but that does not mean I feel nothing about them nor does it mean that I support what Ari did._

_Ari is the bear in the zoo, the elephant in the woods or whatever that American idiom is supposed to mean! Because I have not loudly denounced Ari, I am somehow still seen to be implicit in his actions! Because I still remember the kind, loving boy he was, the boy they will never, ever understand._

_I understand the sacrifices director Shepard had to make to get me into the agency as a liaison officer. I understand my father's conflict over mine being here in America. As long as I regard this as a long-term mission, I am fine._

_When I see these people as...people...and I think of why the director asked me to come here, I think of how badly I am doing in regards to being trusted, and respected, of being one of the team._

_I did not understand how important that is to me until the incident._

_I do not wish to return to Mossad. My wish, to pursue a different path than the one my father laid out for me, remains._

_I fear that after this incident, that it is all but apparent that my destiny is, and has been, in my father's hands. No matter how much I wish otherwise._

Kol Tuv _, my friend._ L'hitraot _._

_Ziva_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Christmas Eve**   
**Washington**   
**Navy Yard**   
**NCIS Headquarters**   
**Director Jenny Shepard's office**

Jenny Shepard barked orders at agents and security, those standing in front of her desk and listening in via teleconference.

"Get down there - I don't care how! Use the stairs!" she barked, as the two agents and head of security ran off. She pushed a button on her speaker phone - ending one conversation - and pushed another button to contact the Secretary of the Navy, then noticed the two agents standing near her doorway.

"What are you doing  _here_?" she yelled. "Why aren't you down  _there_?"

"We're your security detail, Director," said the veteran of the two, Balboa, standing with his probationary agent Taylor. "Part of the new directives: should an event like this occur in the building-"

"-a minimum of two agents accompanies the director of the agency at all times," Jenny finished, for Balboa. "The 'Ari Directives'."

"Ari Haswari: the gift that keeps on giving," Balboa cracked.

"How many of our people are down in Ms. Sciuto's lab?" she asked Balboa for the second time.

"Three," Balboa replied. "Agent Todd, Ms. Sciuto, and Officer David."

"And how many of them are down there?" Jenny followed.

"Three," Balboa said. "Sterling. His 'neighbor', whom we have confirmed as being an associate of Haswari's; the Serbian. And the Serbian's associate, the Russian mercenary."

"Wonderful," Jenny said, more to herself than the two men in the room. She stepped out from behind her desk and walked out of her office towards the desk of her secretary, Cynthia Summer; Taylor kept an eye on the office from the doorway, while Balboa stopped five feet behind the director. "Cynthia. ANY word from Agents Gibbs or McGee?"

"Neither one's answering their phones," Cynthia said.

"What about Los Angeles?" Jenny replied; the director called in the L.A.-based Special Ops team two hours ago, and given the circumstances, she was already mulling setting up a Washington office for the undercover division.

"One hour from landing at Andrews," Cynthia replied.

"I hope to God those women can hold out," Jenny said. "Get me the FBI director. We're gonna need his help."

**Abby Sciuto's lab**

One month ago, Chip Sterling decided not to pull the trigger on his primary purpose for joining the agency as Abby Sciuto's assistant: the framing of agent Tony DiNozzo for a past transgression.

Instead, 'Bruno' convinced Sterling that if he waited, Bruno would make certain it was worth his while - all Bruno wanted was access to something that NCIS held as evidence: jewelry, weapons and drugs worth over $5 million, that Gibbs' team came across during a raid.

Sterling, somehow, got access to the evidence locker, found everything Bruno was looking for, and thought he had secured it. He even got Bruno and 'Tiny' to come to the Navy Yard, under the guise of sightseeing; they waited for him, in a jeep outside the garage entrance.

Everything was going according to plan -  _Gibbs_ ' plan, as the special agent in charge was overseeing an op that would catch all three men in the act.

Then, Sterling panicked. He thought he had been made; Tiny in turn made overtures about cutting their losses and getting away (and leaving Sterling behind).

Bruno, wanting all of the jewelry, ordered Sterling to procure the last of the evidence from Abby's laboratory; he and Tiny would stay outside the entrance to wait for him.

When Sterling entered, he saw Ziva and Kate talking with Abby. He expected the lab to be empty, and tried to play off his nervousness as 'date jitters'.

With all three women watching him closely - and him knowing none of them liked him at all - Chip went to the back, looking for the jewels.

Sterling found an empty Caf!-Pow cup, in the otherwise empty drawer, in his 'desk' next to Abby's own. He looked up, seeing Abby standing in the sliding doorway, arms folded, and angry.

"Looking for  _something_ , jerk?"

"Excuse me?"

"Looking for something?" she continued. "You're  _not_  going to find it. It's in evidence. Where it  _should_  be. And  _you_  - you're  _not_  where you  _should_  be."

"Abby, w-what on earth are you t-talking about?" Sterling stammered, trying to remember if there was a back way out, away from Abby, Ziva and Kate - and Bruno and Tiny.

"I  _know_ ," she said. "And  _Gibbs_  knows. And you're  _FIRED_. All I have to  _do_  is give Gibbs the word-"

" _Abs_!" Kate yelled, from the other room.

"Get yourself  _OUT_  of my lab and do not  _EVER_  come back!" Abby continued, pointing towards the elevator.

Sterling and Abby both heard commotion outside, and something - someone - tossed into a table.

Abby looked outwards; her eyes grew wide, and her mouth flew open.

"Ohmi _god_ -"

She never finished her exclamation, as Sterling rushed her and tackled her from behind.

He looked up, and saw Bruno standing over Ziva - laying next to the knocked-over table Abby usually put evidence on - and Tiny holding Kate up, by the neck.

Then Sterling turned her around, and - kneeling over her - punched her in the face, knocking her out.

"That's for  _all_  the **** you made me put  _up_  with, bitch!" he said, then pulled his fist back again to deliver another blow.

Bruno grabbed his wrist.

"Where  _are_  the  _jewels_?" Bruno shouted, and Sterling remembered why he went down to the lab in the first place.

"Not there," Sterling replied. "Evidence."

"Which we cannot access because of security," Bruno said, getting angrier by the second. "Tiny. Throw the female down, lock the door, and search."

A quick search of the lab saw no trace of the missing jewels.

"What...w-w-what w-w-will we d-d-d-do?" Sterling stuttered, as he thought Bruno would break his neck right there.

"Can you contact the director from here?"

"Y-y-yes."

"Then that is what we will do. Get me in contact with Shepard and I will take it from there."

With the glass door locked, Bruno gave his list of demands to the director - starting with the remainder of the evidence placed in the jeep - and ending with giving the trio a 'two-hour start' after leaving the building.

"Only then," Bruno said, "will I inform you where you can find Agent DiNozzo."

**Tony DiNozzo's apartment**

Gibbs, McGee and FBI agent Tobias Fornell burst through Tony's front door, leading a dozen NCIS and FBI officers into the living room; all dispersed and searched every room, and found no one.

"We need to search every room in the building," Fornell said, after Gibbs threw his hands up in frustration.

"Has to be somewhere," Gibbs muttered to himself, then spotted his junior agent. "MCGEE!"

" _Yes_  boss!"

"Get on DiNozzo's computer - flight plans, hotel reservation. Call his father. Taxi services...what in hell are you  _standing_  there for?! Get to WORK!"

"Yes boss!" McGee said, running to Tony's Compaq desktop PC.

"Yelling at the kid isn't gonna do any good, Jethro," Tobias said, before meeting a glare from Gibbs.

"My agent is  _missing_ , Tobias!" Gibbs shouted. "Three of my people are being held by those bastards - one of whom is an NCIS employee! The clock's ticking for all of them-"

"We  _know_  the clock's ticking!" Fornell shot back. "Yelling, screaming won't do ANY good. You keep doing  _that_  and not attack this with a clear head, those idiots keep the advantage. You  _take_  the advantage from them."

Gibbs paused momentarily, breathed deeply, and turned to McGee.

"McGee! Anything?"

"Got ticket and hotel information," McGee replied. "About to call the Delta desk at Reagan, and the hotel in New York."

"Do that - no, have Fowler call the hotel," Gibbs said. "I'll call Mr. DiNozzo after I call the director - what was that clue that Bruno bastard told us-"

"Out of sight," Fornell interjected. "Said Tony would know."

"Hell!" Gibbs said, frustrated. "McGee - Fornell -  _SOMEBODY_  find out what in hell that means!" Gibbs turned heel, and walked out to the hallway to call Jenny.

Fornell walked to McGee, and saw an earnest-yet-scared-and-frustrated agent trying to do his part to find his teammate before the worst could happen.

"99 percent of that's hot air," Fornell said in an attempt to calm down the now-junior field agent.

It barely worked. McGee was sweating and slightly shaking.

"Okay. Half of it. A quarter of it," Fornell added, smiling; that worked, as McGee seemed to relax. "Good...Gibbs is just angry at the bastards, not at you...just focus on what he told you to do. One step at a time."

"Thanks," McGee said, turning back to the monitor, then pulling out his cell phone to call the airline.

"What would 'out of sight' mean?" Fornell said.

"Could be anything," McGee replied. "I've never heard him use it as an expression, never heard him mention it - except in the context of some movie he saw."

"Movie."

"Yeah, Tony's a film buff. When he...when he's not busy being Tony, he usually tells anyone who's in earshot about some classic or recent movie he saw-"

Then, the proverbial light went off in Fornell and McGee's minds.

"Where's his DVD and VHS collection?" Fornell said, then turned to two of his agents. "Sacks. Booth. Look for movies - tapes, DVDs, in his bedroom, near the TV!"

"And what are we looking for," replied agent Seeley Booth.

"Something that would make reference to sight, or sightseeing, or being out of sight," Fornell said, to the agents' confusion. "McGee, look on the internet while you call that airline."

**Present**   
**Abby's lab**

Ziva remembered sensing someone in the doorway, then turning around and seeing a 6-foot-5, 270 pound man flying towards her - and a 6-foot-11, 350 pound man flying towards Kate.

The next thing she remembered was blurry vision, and feeling herself bound.

"Kate! Abby!" she shouted, and heard nothing.

"Caitlin! Abigail!" she shouted again, and heard the behemoth frame of 'Tiny' standing guard, with the AK-47 rifle from the table, and the slightly smaller, but still large, frame of Bruno standing with her and Kate's pistols in both hands.

To Bruno's right was Sterling, who looked much more like all three women in comparison. He held Ziva's knife, his hand blood red and knuckles white, and Ziva swore he had wet his pants.

"The second one is awake," stated Tiny, with the deepest baritone pitch Ziva had ever heard from a man.

Bruno said nothing, looking back and forth between Abby's computer and the doorway.

"Sterling. He's pissed himself," she heard Kate whisper to her left.

Ziva turned and saw Kate looking back at her, then saw Abby to Kate's left, unconscious, head leaned over to her front.

"Abigail-"

"She's alive," Kate whispered. "Sterling checked her vitals. Unconscious but alive. Bruno over there is the ringleader. Yelled, said he'd shoot us even if Ducky came through the doorway."

"Are you alright?" Ziva asked.

"If you call being by your neck 20 feet in the air and tossed onto the floor okay, then I'm fine," Kate said, straightforwardly. "Are you okay?"

"I feel fine- _AHHHHH_!" Ziva felt a sharp pain sear through her back.

"You were thrown through that table," Kate said.

"What?" Ziva whispered back, then looked at the overturned table to her right, partially broken. "I do not remember that."

"You were out like a lamp," Kate said. "I don't know how you-"

Tiny took guard of the doorway, as Bruno ran over, then pointed both pistols at the two conscious women.

" _SHUT THE #$% UP!_ " yelled the man. "Sterling. Contact Shepard. Give her our terms. Tell her if my property is not in that jeep in ten minutes, people  _die_  - starting with the gothic woman-baby."

"F****** toddler," muttered Sterling, who chuckled before Bruno slapped the back of his head - hard.

"What the **** was  _THAT_  for?" Sterling yelled; Bruno replied by sticking the barrel of one of his pistols against the bridge of Sterling's nose.

"Don't **** with me, Sterling," Bruno sneered. "I got you what you wanted and couldn't do on your own. You  _still_  owe me in return. This is part of the deal. Do as I say - and she" - pointing the gun towards Abby - "will be the one whose brains get splattered across the room before yours."

Sterling, speechless, punched a sequence of buttons on the keyboard, and the face of director Shepard appeared on both monitors.

"Shepard," Bruno said.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists," Jenny said, matter-of-factly.

"Then  _YOU_  will be the one to tell Leroy Jethro Gibbs that three of his women are dead because YOU wouldn't negotiate," Bruno bellowed. "Now. I once again will remind you of my terms. When I am finished, you have ten minutes to comply. Or people die."

While Bruno spoke, Ziva fidgeted with her ties around her wrists; Kate was doing the same.

" _Prague_ ," Ziva whispered.

Kate was confused for a moment. Then her eyes widened.

"I hope you listened more intently than Tony," Ziva said.

"That night," Kate whispered. "You told Tony and I about that mission you and Jenny were on...you're not going to-"

"If I - if WE - do not, we will not all make it out of here alive," Ziva whispered back. "Do you remember?"

"Yes."

"I hope for your, and Abby's, and my own sake, you did. Now follow my lead, and wait for my signal."

And as Tiny stood guard, Sterling shook, and Bruno gathered up his 'stash', Ziva waited to make her move, and Kate hoped the young Mossad officer knew what she was doing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abby, Kate and Ziva are rescued - and help rescue themselves - from Chip Sterling and associates; the three women catch up afterwards.

**Chapter 3**

**Two years ago**   
**Prague, Czech Republic**

The Al-Qaeda operatives paced the room, arguing amongst themselves, while NCIS Agent Jennifer Shepard and Mossad officer Ziva David watched, both bound to wooden chairs.

The operatives not only were preoccupied with themselves, they seemed dismissive of the two women, as if neither one posed any kind of threat whatsoever.

So, none of the three men paid attention when Ziva and Jenny whispered amongst themselves.

Ziva managed to loosen her bindings and was guiding Jenny in doing the same with her own.

Both women waited patiently for their chance.

Then, the men came over; the leader, brash and arrogant, announced the women were to be traded to the Germans for eight Bosnian insurgents who carried out a terrorist attack on a train station in Bonn eight months before.

The second of the men, who had a loud mouth and a wandering eye that looked up and down both women from neck to hip, let his pistol drop to his side.

 _He thinks if we try something he will have sufficient time to aim and shoot us,_  Ziva realized.

The third of the men was the biggest, and by far the dumbest; Jenny wondered if the giant really had a pile of stones shoved into his skull.

When the three men were in position, Jenny shot up, and lifted her chair in an overhand motion and threw it in the leader's face, knocking him backwards.

At the same time, Ziva reached backwards to the counter behind her, grabbed a machine file with her right hand and a pair of needle-nosed pliers with her left, and in an overhand motion threw both objects at Second and Third's foreheads.

As Leader hit the floor, Jenny couldn't tell if Second and Third were dead or stunned - but she wasn't going to chance either being alive. While Ziva dove towards Leader, Jenny reached for Second's gun, grabbed it, then shot him and Third in the head.

Jenny pointed her newly-commandeered handgun at Leader and screamed at him to surrender before noticing that his head had been twisted 150 degrees by Ziva's feet.

With her gun aimed at Leader's head, Jenny told Ziva to let her check for a pulse. Ziva put one foot on his throat as she reached for Third's semi-automatic; Jenny felt no pulse.

"Dead," Jenny said. "Nice work, officer David."

"I will say the same to you, agent Shepard," Ziva replied.

"That Mossad training of yours and Jethro's on-the-job training of mine definitely paid off," Jenny continued. "Wait till he hears about this."

**Present**   
**Tony DiNozzo's apartment complex**

Fornell and McGee ran down the stairs of Tony DiNozzo's apartment building out to the parking lot, towards Tony's car.

"Boss?" McGee shouted, seeing Gibbs picking the trunk lock, then lifting the hood.

As Fornell and McGee got to the car, they saw Tony, bound and gagged, and Gibbs standing over him, cutting the ropes.

Gibbs turned around and handed another knife to McGee. "Cut the ropes below the waist," he barked at McGee, as he himself began cutting at the gag around Tony's jaw.

"Why am I not surprised," Fornell said, shaking his head. "You know, since you know every damned thing, it'd save us all a helluva lot of time and manpower if you'd just tell everybody where the bad guys are and the innocents are being held."

"Doesn't quite work that way, Tobias," Gibbs replied, as he finished cutting through Tony's gag. Once Gibbs finished his task, he joined McGee in cutting the rest of Tony's binds, as DiNozzo coughed and gasped.

"Ya know," DiNozzo said as he was helped out of the trunk. "I'm glad Sterling picked  _Out of Sight_  instead of  _There Will Be Blood_. Guess Sterling didn't have the guts to pull off a Daniel Day-Lewis-"

_SLAP!_

" _Focus_ , DiNozzo," Gibbs said after delivering the headslap to his senior agent, getting the attention of several FBI agents in the process.

"Right boss," Tony answered, as he explained how Sterling and his two associates got the drop on him.

"Tell me you have a trace on them," Tony said.

"Yeah, DiNozzo, we 'got a trace'," Gibbs shot back. " _Abby's lab_. Abby, Kate and Ziva are there with them."

Tony put his forehead in his hand; he had no quips to give in response.

Gibbs' phone rang; the director was on the other line.

"We found DiNozzo," Gibbs told Jenny.

"Good. The others are alive, and the captors have agreed to release them with the following conditions," said Jenny, who told Gibbs was their terms were.

"Tell them whatever you want," Gibbs said, "as long as you get them outside the garage."

"Why does that matter -  _what_  do you have in mind, Jethro... _You_  have something in mind. You  _do_ -"

"Ya  _think_ , Jen?"

"Jethro. We do  _this_  one by the book-"

"Then my people really are in danger."

"What do you suggest, Agent Gibbs?"

"Get the bastards out of the building," Gibbs began, then told the director how he planned to end the ordeal.

**Abby's lab**

"Prague," Ziva whispered.

Kate was confused for a moment. Then her eyes widened.

"I hope you listened more intently than Tony," Ziva said.

"That night," Kate whispered. "You told Tony and I about that mission you and Jenny were on...you're not going to-"

"If I - if WE - do not, we will not all make it out of here alive," Ziva whispered back. "Do you remember?"

"Yes."

"I hope for your, and Abby's, and my own sake, you did. Now follow my lead, and wait for my signal."

And as Tiny stood guard, Sterling shook, and Bruno gathered up his 'stash', Ziva waited to make her move, and Kate hoped the young Mossad officer knew what she was doing.

"Remember what I said Monique told me," Ziva continued. "What Tony's partner told him in Philadelphia. What Gibbs said she told the director when they worked together in Paris."

"'Follow my lead. Even when you don't know what I'm doing'."

"'Especially when you do not know what I am going to do,'" Ziva followed. "Tony did not get that out of Chick-fil-A Quarterly."

Ziva looked at Kate, momentarily confused, while Sterling saw them talking from the opposite side of the room.

"That's a fast food restaurant, not one of Tony's swimsuit magazines," Kate clarified, briefly smiling.

She hoped he was okay. Both women - and Abby - knew Sterling had it in for Tony, after Sterling's brief rant about getting DiNozzo back for some past offense.

"Tony is fine," Ziva said, "and we will be as well. Are you ready?"

"My bands are loose," Kate said.

"As are mine. Follow my lead," Ziva instructed.

Sterling saw them, and while Bruno was shouting at the NCIS agents and security guards outside the door, walked towards the women, pulling a gun from his back waist and another from his side holster.

"Gonna  _try_  somethin' bitches?!" Sterling yelled, putting both pistols to their foreheads. "Try it - and  _die_!"

Bruno turned his head, quickly. Seeing what was going down, he yelled at Tiny to keep his semiautomatic trained on the agents, then - weapons drawn - ran to the women.

"STERLING!" he yelled, nodding towards a still-unconscious Abby. "Guns on her!"

Bruno then quickly kicked Ziva three times - her right knee, her ribs and her jaw - apparently knocking her out, then pulled one of his weapons on Kate.

"ANY OF YOU TRY ANYTHING, THEY DIE HERE," Bruno shouted.

Then he nodded twice to Sterling, who kicked Kate in the face, seemingly knocking her unconcious.

"Bind them again, but where they can walk or be drug out of here," he snapped at Sterling. "And securely, as I showed you with the male."

While Sterling worked on Ziva and Kate, Bruno punched a few buttons on Abby's computer and - looking between the screen and doorway - contacted the director.

"I have agreed to your terms," she said.

"Good," Bruno replied. "My property is in the jeep, as agreed?"

"Yes. Now give me my people-"

" _Not_  part of the deal, director," Bruno growled. "A two-hour head start. I will dump them in a place your agents or police can find them, and will call you once I determine I cannot be traced. You value their lives, you will do as I say."

With that, Bruno instructed Sterling to administer "something to wake up the women", then changed his mind and opted to have each man pick a woman.

With a host of agents and security glaring at them, the men left the laboratory with their captives. Tiny led the way to the elevator, dragging Kate. Bruno drug Ziva. Sterling drug Abby - initially by the pigtail, then by her shoulder after a smack in the mouth from Bruno.

**Garage**

" _Please_. Allow me to at least examine them," Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard, NCIS's lead medical examiner, pleaded to Bruno as he, Sterling and Tiny drug the women towards the exit.

"Not part of the deal," Bruno said.

They stepped outside, onto the small parking lot adjacent to the garage. On Bruno's word, Tiny and Sterling threw Kate and Abby into the back; then, Tiny held his weapon at an unconcious Ziva - leaned against the driver's side of the jeep - while Bruno counted his 'stash'.

Satisfied that everything was accounted for, Bruno ordered Tiny to throw Ziva in the Jeep, and Sterling to get in with them.

**Multiple Threat Assessment Center (MTAC)**

Jenny monitored every feed from the garage and adjacent buildings, watching the thugs put her people in their getaway vehicle.

"Agents Callen and Hanna, when their plane touches down, will join the search team in progress," said assistant director Leon Vance.

"They better be as good as you claim," Jenny replied. "Bruno has to know he can't get very far. He's holding hostage a federal agent, a federal employee, and a Mossad officer. No one is going to give them a two-second 'head start' much less two hours...He didn't even check for bugs."

"He won't find  _all_  the bugs," Vance said. "Our concern is him switching vehicles-"

"Which is why we need to stop him  _here_ ," Jenny said to Vance, as she watched Sterling and Tiny get in the car, and Bruno checking the exterior.

"Looks like he's finally searching for bugs," Vance said.

Jenny switched frequencies and checked in with her sniper. "They are preparing to leave. FBI and Metro police are aware. I don't want them to leave that lot."

"Roger," said Sniper Two, a recent transfer from the Office of Special Projects' Rota office. "I have target in my sight. Ready to take him out at your word."

"Sniper One?" Jenny said. "You ready?"

"Roger that... _director_ ," said the familiar voice of 'Sniper One'.

**Garage parking lot**

"TINY!" Bruno bellowed, looking at a bug planted on the gas cap. "Get out here, help me sweep this vehicle!"

Tiny - weapon in hand - lumbered out, said something in Serbian, then got slapped in return; Bruno shouted for Sterling to keep his weapons aimed at the women, then ordered Tiny to look in the door frames and under the rear bumper, while Bruno checked the hood and underneath.

"Sniper Two," Sniper One said. "Take out secondary target."

"Roger," he responded.

Moments later, Sniper Two pulled the trigger on his rifle, and Tiny fell to the ground, dead via a bullet to the head.

Bruno looked up from the hood, and his eyes went wide; inside, Sterling shouted profanities, uncertain as to what to do next.

Then, Sniper One - Leroy Jethro Gibbs - ran out from behind a nearby truck. Opposite him, agents DiNozzo and McGee and FBI agent Fornell appeared from behind a car.

"ZORANOVIC! STERLING!" Gibbs screamed. "OUT FROM THE VEHICLE! HANDS UP! NOW!"

Goran Zoranovic - a.k.a. Bruno - pointed his weapon inside and yelled "убити их".  _Kill them._

Gibbs shot once, and a second later Zoranovic fell to the ground, dead.

Only Sterling was left, and he was in the jeep, and armed.

Tony - anticipating Gibbs - moved in towards the jeep, weapon drawn; McGee followed on his right, and Fornell joined them, opposite McGee.

Gibbs - trailed by three NCIS agents - moved quickly towards the jeep from the opposite direction.

"STERLING!" he shouted, weapon drawn, looking for the right angle to shoot. "GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE, HANDS UP!"

Sterling screamed an expletive in response, and Gibbs saw movement inside the jeep.

"Something's  _happening_  Tony, something  _bad_ -" McGee blurted out.

McGee wasn't entirely wrong...but Sterling got the worst of it.

Ziva headbutted him twice, followed by a kick in the neck from Kate; that forced him to loosen his grip on his gun.

And Abby - who had just regained consciousness - followed with a kick of her own to Sterling's forehead.

A second hard kick from Kate to his ribs knocked the surviving captor out of the jeep, and Sterling tumbled on his back. Kate and Ziva jumped out, arms still bound, compensating by using their feet and legs to subdue him.

"DiNozzo! McGee!  _Take_  him!" yelled Gibbs, and his two male agents secured Sterling before he could do any more damage.

Gibbs frantically looked in the jeep, seeing Abby, and some blood.

"Uh...er...Gibbs?" she muttered. "That jerk...kidnapped me...Kate...Ziva-"

"Abs," he replied, relieved she was alive, and hoping the men hadn't seriously hurt her. "You're safe. We're gonna get you out. Ducky's gonna take a look at you."

**Inside the garage**

Gibbs gathered his team near the elevator and did a quick debrief, as agent Balboa and his team processed the jeep and the bodies of Sterling's accomplices. Ducky gave all three women a quick medical examination, deciding that they needed more immediate medical attention - particularly Abby.

When Ducky mentioned Abby, the men reacted strongly; only Jenny's arrival, via the elevator, kept Gibbs from taking Sterling back out to the parking lot for an impromptu interrogation. He settled for a review of the events, from Ziva and Kate's perspective.

"We tried to catch the men by surprise and failed," Ziva said. "I apologize-"

Gibbs cut her off. "What did I tell you about apologies, officer David?"

"You all were in a difficult situation," Jenny said to Kate and Ziva. "You handled yourself well under the circumstances."

"Ziva kept things together," Kate said, looking at her teammate with admiration.

Ziva considered that, just for a moment; perhaps, finally, she had broken through to Caitlin, and earned her trust. "I performed my duty," Ziva replied. "Caitlin performed extremely well under the circumstances, and Abby deserves commendation for her actions in the jeep."

"Abby kicked him silly," said Kate, still on an adrenaline high, oblivious to her own injuries. "You should be  _proud_  of her, Gibbs."

Before Gibbs could ask Abby anything, Ducky shook his head.

"I'm afraid Abigail needs a full examination before anyone asks her anything," said the medical examiner. "I recommend she be given an MRI as a precaution."

All three women went to Bethesda Naval; Abby got the worst of it, but none of their injuries were severe.

**Christmas Day**   
**Bethesda Naval Hospital**

The team celebrated the holiday at Bethesda Naval, sneaking into Abby's room for dinner.

As McGee left Abby's room, to spend the evening with his sister, Kate and Ziva made their way in.

"How'ya feeling?" Kate said.

"Miserable," Abby replied. "Jerkling and his friends screwed the holidays up. Put us in here, kept Tony from seeing his dad, kept you Kate from going home to Indiana. And you, Ziva. We couldn't go to the shelter this morning with the sisters."

"We shall volunteer at the shelter another day, very soon when you are well," Ziva reassured her. "You did great, Abby. You may have saved us."

"You knocked him off balance," Kate added. "You helped Ziva and I completely get the advantage on that jerk...you  _really_  ought to be proud of yourself." Ziva nodded.

"Wish I could've kicked that jerk a little lower - halfway between his weird-looking face and his stupid feet," Abby replied, and Kate and Ziva laughed. Abby tried to laugh, too, but groaned after feeling a dull throb in her head.

"Take it easy, Abs," Kate said.

"Director Shepard says she is looking at the entire case, beginning with how Sterling got those two men into the building," Ziva said. "There were protocols to prevent that, protocols put into place because of what...what my brother-"

"Ziva," Abby interjected. "Nobody blames you for this...nobody blames you for Ari."

"I talked with Julie," Kate said, of her twin sister, who worked in the Office of Special Projects. "Her teammates Callen and Sam are here, following up on the case. Those two guys were major players in some eastern European group. They met Sterling, befriended him, sold him with the promise of framing Tony as payback, and used him to infiltrate the agency."

"Only they were not as clever and bright as they thought," Ziva followed.

The women talked some more, turning the topic of conversation to lighter subjects - like Kate's dog Toni; Abby's bowling team, in which she's the only non-nun; and Ziva's choice of car, a Mini Cooper S.

Ziva noted Abby's spirits had lifted, and Kate was enjoying herself immensely. Ziva herself had to admit she was having a good time.

"We need to do this more often," Abby said. "Regular girls' nights out."

Kate smiled to herself.

"What?" Abby asked her.

"Us having a 'girls' night out'," Kate answered. "We'd be quite the sight, don'tcha think?"

"Who cares what people think?" Abby replied. "I can't think of anyone else I'd like to hang out with - well, besides the sisters, girl-wise. Boy-wise, I'd hang out with McGee, of course. And Ducky. Jimmy's a really nice guy once you get to know him. I'd hang out with Tony-"

" _Tony_?" Kate said incredulously. "I  _can't_  imagine what 'hanging out' with him would be like-wait. On second thought, I  _can_  imagine what that would be like...ohmi _god_..."

Ziva chuckled as Abby playfully smacked Kate on her hand. "You're too mean on him," she kindly admonished him.

"I would welcome the opportunity to spend an evening with him," Ziva said, as the other two women raised their eyebrows in response.

"And do  _what_ , exactly?" Abby.

"I would put him through a Mossad training exercise," Ziva mused, chuckling, then laughing.

"I'd pay good money to watch that," Kate replied, laughing in response.

"You're both mean!" Abby teased the others. "Anyway. Men we would hang out with...I'd hang out with every guy on the team. Including Gibbs."

"You would spend your time with Gibbs helping him sand his boat," Ziva added.

"We'd  _get_  him to build the boat, and we'd sail it off a beach somewhere," Kate said.

"Now you're talking," Abby replied.

"And somewhere warm, nice, peaceful, no creeps leering at us," Kate followed. "And especially somewhere DiNozzo can't track us - or take pictures to blackmail us with."

Ziva chuckled.

"What?" Kate said.

"Tony is not quite...that bad," Ziva replied. "But I am a fully trained Mossad agent. That - and Gibbs - should keep Tony in check."

"If not, there's  _always_  Photoshop," Abby said, winking at Kate, and grinning, while Abby and Kate laughed.


End file.
